South African Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba makes it clear that while the Jewish community is under no particular threat, the department of state security takes seriously its mandate to protect the country’s citizens.

Lawyers are preparing criminal and civil charges following one of the darkest weeks of anti-Semitism in South Africa. There have been a slew of vile incidents that sent shock waves through the community.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Dr Ali Bacher, former South African cricket captain and administrator, was one of the five recipients of the 2018 Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SA Sport Awards held in Bloemfontein on Sunday night.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

Late on Tuesday, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. While at the time of writing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had still not confirmed the existence of such a truce, Israeli citizens living in the south of the country were told they could return home and to “normalcy”.

The Israeli gymnastics team was out in full force at 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that began at Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday. There are five males and two females in the team headed by new Israeli sensation Artem Dolgopyat. The others are Alexander Shatilov, Ilan Korchak, Andrey Medvedev, and Michael Sorokine, while the women are Ofir Netzer and Meitar Lavy.

As I was heading home on Tuesday, I heard on ChaiFM that 460 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel since late Sunday. That is an outrageous number. If every one of them hit inhabited areas, thousands of Israelis would have been killed.

“The president is not directly responsible for acts of domestic terrorism, but he should be more careful with his language.” That’s the way the Economist headlined its report on the horrific Pittsburgh killings just more than two weeks ago.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

Berland spent Pesach in 'Sun City' prison

Rabbi Eliezer Berland’s bail hearing is scheduled to continue this morning [Tuesday, April 26] in the Randburg Magistrate’s court, on the northwest side of Johannesburg. But, given what took place at the hearing last week, especially on Thursday and Friday, there is no guarantee that the hearing will reach an end.

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JEREMY GORDIN | Apr 26, 2016

On Friday morning, Berland emerged from the holding cells below the court shouting that he was “going to die” because at Kgosi Mampuru Prison in Pretoria where he had been sent on Thursday night, he had been unable to eat or take his medication and had been “threatened by gangsters”.

Regional Magistrate Pravina Raghunandan adjourned court so that the 79-year-old Berland could take medication. But it was already 11.30am before the Friday hearing resumed because Berland’s attorney, Themba Langa, had not appeared at court.

Berland, one of the leaders of the Bratslav Hasidic movement in Israel, and considered a holy man by his followers, has been on the run since 2012 when allegations were made by female followers in Israel that he had sexually harassed them.

Pictured for SA Jewish Report by Ilan Ossendryver, right, Rabbi Berland in the dock in Randburg
Berland has managed to live under the noses of authorities from Morocco to the Netherlands and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, prior to his arrest on April 7, he had been staying at hotels and golf estates. He is followed by about 40 families, to whom he is a spiritual guru.

There was confusion about why Langa arrived late; it appears that Berland’s followers were supposed to have paid him but failed to do so. Langa then got into an altercation with one of the followers – which can be viewed here – while a new attorney accompanied by an advocate was apparently summoned. However, it was finally agreed among the defence team and Berland’s followers that Langa would continue running the case.

Followers begged prosecutor for Pesach bail

This was followed by the reading into the record of an affidavit for the state from an Israeli official named as Avital Oren. The affidavit stated that Berland was wanted for questioning related to sexual assault and not for any political reasons, as he had claimed; that he had never worked in Nablus, also as claimed by Berland in his statement; that he has no Palestinian followers; and that Berland’s followers had entered Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, causing Palestinian anger, in October 2015.

At lunch break, the locus of the action shifted into the corridor outside court 13 where prosecutor, Advocate Nerisha Naidoo, was hounded by Berland’s followers who begged her not to oppose giving bail to Berland – so that he could be free for Passover, the first night of which was about five hours away.

They said that if Berland was held in custody on the first night of Passover, he would die because he would not have access to kosher l’pesach food and would not eat or even drink water. Naidoo took the unprecedented step of phoning her superior in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in front of Berland’s followers to ask for permission to allow bail for Berland. Her request was turned down.

Magistrate Raghunandan tried to finish the bail hearing by asking Langa for proof of a fixed address for Berland and for documentary proof of his “status” in South Africa. Langa was unable produce any documentation showing that Berland has a fixed address nor was he able to provide any written evidence that Berland had applied for political asylum in SA, as claimed.

The magistrate then postponed the rest of the hearing till today (Tuesday) and said Berland would have to be held in custody over Passover. Langa said that Berland had a constitutional right to practise his religion – and that this could not be denied to him.

Raghunandan – having accepted Berland’s complaints about maximum security prison Kgosi Mampuru – said that he would have to spend the first days of Passover at Johannesburg Prison’s “awaiting trial” facility, sarcastically “Sun City” by locals.

Raghunandan ordered that Berland be kept in a single cell and that his wife and assistant may bring him kosher food as required at 8am and 5pm daily.